Precision you can see.
Process you can repeat.

Specialist croissant and viennoiserie troubleshooting for working bakeries. A £95 technical audit of your formula, lamination, proof and bake, with a prioritised test plan reviewed by Matt.

Start my audit See a real case

Submit your batch first. Pay only after Matt accepts the case.

Corrected croissants with even shape and defined lamination

Close view of a corrected croissant showing precise laminated layers

Do it yourself

Croissant Production Diagnostic System

£39 Instant digital access

A professional 73-page bench manual built for working bakeries and viennoiserie teams. Diagnose recurring croissant faults, isolate the strongest cause, test one meaningful correction and build a process your team can repeat.

20 detailed fault paths
Proof, lamination and bake differential diagnosis
Butter/dough compatibility and formula architecture
Controlled A/B trial methods
Retarder-proofer and equipment verification
Printable production and QC worksheets

Buy the Diagnostic System — £39 Secure checkout. Your PDF is delivered automatically by email after successful payment.

Work with Matt

Croissant Troubleshooting Audit

£95 One focused technical audit

Send the problem you keep returning to. Matt reviews the pastry and the process behind it, then delivers a clear technical report built around what to test next.

Formula and process review
Evidence-led fault diagnosis
Prioritised corrective actions
Professional PDF report

What happens next

Submit your batch through the intake form.
Matt confirms the audit is the right fit, before you pay.
Your report is delivered within 5 working days of confirmation.

Start my audit No payment is taken on this website.

Case 001 · Matt’s production audit

From restricted crumb to an open structure.

Original croissant batch with tight, restricted crumb — BeforeTight crumb · restricted expansion

Corrected croissant batch with open, continuous internal structure — AfterOpen structure · result verified

The problem

Strong exterior lift concealed a tight, fragmented crumb, with restricted expansion through the centre and base. The original batch was proofed for 2½ hours at 27.5°C / 75% RH.

What Ferment & Fold identified

The audit linked Matt’s production record with the photographs: insufficient proof development, tight shaping and a formula/process mismatch. Visible layer separation showed the lamination had survived; the crumb alone could not establish the cause.

What changed

Sugar fell from 14.93% to 8.91% of flour weight; some milk was replaced with water, with dough butter unchanged. Salt and yeast were adjusted. Shaping tension was reduced, with a double-plus-single fold, overnight retard/proofing and a staged 23-minute bake.

The result

The corrected photographs show more open, connected cells and clearer internal expansion. Triangle dimensions and sheet thickness stayed at 10 × 40cm and 3.5mm. The corrected pieces weighed 95g.

A demonstration audit from Matt’s own production, supported by the original and corrected batch photographs. Several variables changed together, so the evidence supports the combined correction; it does not isolate the effect of each change. Read the complete sample audit ↗

Experience behind the work

Meet Matt. Production first.

I’m Matt Smith, a pastry chef and baker specialising in French pâtisserie and viennoiserie.

My experience is grounded in commercial pastry and bakery production, where a process has to work within the shift, the equipment and the production schedule.

I assess formula, mixing, lamination, dough temperature, proofing and baking together to identify where a fault develops. The aim is a practical correction that can be tested in the next batch and repeated in daily production.

I personally review every technical diagnosis before it reaches a client.

2026Finalist, Best Croissant UK
2023National Chef of Wales
2015Great Taste Award
WelshCulinary Team Member

Let’s make the result repeatable.